Never a Third Chance
by Rydia Asuka
Summary: Spoilers for ToM! Rambling piece of Tel'aran'rhiod seen through Hopper's eyes as he prepares for the end.


Disclaimer: The Wheel of Time is a registered trademark of the late Robert Jordan and Tor fantasy. No copyright infringement is intended; no profit is being made.

Warnings: Spoilers for Towers of Midnight.

_**Spoooooooooilers!**_

_Well, now that that's out of the way, this is dedicated to one of my favourite characters, who fell in the thirteenth book. There's not much of a plot, it's really just my rambling thoughts on a wonderful wolf who never even warranted his own PoV in the books. _

_I hope everyone enjoys, and feel free to leave a review! I love hearing from people._

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_**Never a Third Chance**_

His blood stained the grass a deep crimson, though the surrounding night darkened it to black. Not far away, he heard Dapple's cry, even as his senses faded. In that moment, Young Bull rose up, a scream tearing free of his lips, and then...

...and then he awoke in the dream. And he remembered. How many times had he done this, being spun in and out of the pattern on his never-ending thread? Now was the time to dream and await his next calling. Await a new age, where once again he would forget and run free as a pup. Perhaps in his next life he would desire to fly once more.

...flying.

Without any hesitation, the grizzled old wolf leapt into the sky, the dream-world bending to his will and holding him there, floating in the sky as he never could have in the other world of living. Yes, here he _soared_. Even as he did, however, he could not help but think on what was being left behind. He had no regrets in his own death, of course, wolves did not regret. No, instead he would make the best of what he had here. Maybe he could even be of more use in this place, help with the insanity that was springing up in the world. Two wolfbrothers had appeared in the span of his lifetime. That was unheard of, not to mention that those two wolfbrothers now walked _together_. So many things were changing, and it could only mean one thing.

_The Last Hunt comes. Heartfang will awaken._

Far off in the distance, he sensed others of his kind. He was not certain whether they were running or living the dream, but he would go to them. Young Bull would come here, and he needed to be prepared to teach him the ways of the dream, lest he fall to darkness and the death of eternity. One did not awaken ever again if he fell in the dream.

Lightly, the wolf once known as Hopper let himself down, almost on top of the spot he had arrived at. His paws pressed softly into the grass slopping the side of the huge, solitary mountain as he landed. To humans, it was Dragonmount, yet to the wolves...to the wolves it meant so much. It was a single fang that pierced the earth; a place of falling, light, darkness, and a new beginning, yet maybe an end. To them, it was all of those things, only there was no way to put it into words. That was not needed, however. He was Hopper, yet he was _not_ Hopper. It was the same of this lone fang of the earth that he was standing upon. It was Dreamfang.

Why he materialised here, he did not know, but at the same time, he _did_. This was the place were, someday, it would all come to head. There was no way of knowing when, but he did know that it was here, on these very slopes, that the wolves would either head off to the Last Hunt with the wolfbrothers and Shadowkiller, or they would fall. There was no other option.

On swift paws, Hopper took off running down the slope and away past, the city of gleaming walls, or Tar Valon, as the humans named it. Right now, he needed to find his brethren, the rest could wait. He may be trapped here until he was born anew, but that did not mean that he would not help prepare the others for the Last Hunt.

Heartfang would not win.

* * *

Young Bull had learned quickly. Slayer had already indiscriminately taken the lives of so many brothers, and it drove the human to rages that made him reckless. They needed to work together, hunting as a pack as they once had with Long Tooth, Dapple, Wind, and Burn. Young Bull was forgetting that in his worry. Why did humans think that they needed to protect those who did not need protecting? Living and dying were both parts of life, that was all there was to it. They needed to work together, and Oak Dancer's pack was theirs for this hunt. As a pack, they could get rid of the killer of wolvers.

If only Young Bull could see that. He thought that his new-found knowledge gave him the upper hand, yet truly it had just placed him on a more even playing field to Slayer. He needed his brothers to _win_.

The dome, though. It trapped him in _and_ held him out. It was possible to get inside, of course, he had done it many a time with Young Bull, yet what was far more difficult...was catching up with the wolfbrother's constant jumping. He could not leap inside the dome, and Young Bull was not telling him where he was going.

So Hopper was going to have to be one step ahead this time.

So he reached out. Young Bull was blocking him out, but what the brother always forgot...was that the pack was one being; one entity with many parts. So he called his brothers, the ones that were willing to work with him and not block him out.

He was _almost_ surprised with what he found. So many of the wolves were gathered in the greatest pack to been seen in this age. He had been their with them before, of course, but it almost seemed as though even more were there, now.

_Hopper, we are here._

_Dapple._ It was his pack; they must be running the dream.

_Young Bull rages not far from here. He pursues Slayer._

_Where?_

_They fight in the human settlement of gleaming walls that is next to the Lonely Fang. _Another name for Dreamfang. The wolves did not make a habit of giving things more than one range of senses, yet this place was too much for one description. _A battle wages inside the clean tower. _

_The den of the light wielders? _

_Yes, there. You must hurry and stop him before he destroys himself. _

_I will. Fight long, Dapple._

_Hopper?_

_Do not wait for me. The Last Hunt comes. Run to it, all of you. I will not be there. _

_Hopper? ...I understand. Fight hard, Ancient One. _

_You too. Your battle has yet to come, but it is the more important one. _

_You have given us a mighty tool. Thank you. _

_Young Bull will lead you to the Last Hunt, follow him well, but do not let him get ahead of himself. He remains eternally an overexcited cub, constantly tripping over his too-big paws. _

_We will keep him in line, and we will fight with the humans. _

_Thank you, Dapple. Farewell. Perhaps we will meet again beyond the dream._

_Farewell...and good-bye._

_Good-bye, Alpha._

And so Hopper shifted, taking himself as close to the human settlement as he could. He had not given Dapple a chance to respond, and he felt that that was for the best. His time with her and the pack was gone. Best to let it go. He knew that there would be no third chance for him. He just...knew.

Not far from where he had arrived, the dome rose, locking him out. Growling faintly to himself, he set forth, entering the enclosure that he knew would bring his permanent demise.

They had to win this fight, though. At any cost. He knew, after the recent events on the Dreamfang, that Young Bull needed to be there for the Last Hunt. Without him, they would fail. Shadowkiller somehow _needed _Young Bull, and that was enough for him.

One paw in front of the other, he passed steadily through the barrier, keeping his impression of himself firm and solid. Once he was through, he shifted, barely gaining his bearing of the situation before launching himself at Slayer's throat.

Young Bull must live!

* * *

The beliefs of the human world carried no interest to the wolves. They simply were; they lived, they died, they were reborn, and eventually that cycle ended and they ceased to be. That was all. It was fairly simple in the end.

And an end it was just that. Hopper had no regrets; wolves did not regret. They just...were. He had lived his lives as was seen fit, and now he was done. He had fulfilled his role of seeing to it that Young Bull made it to the Last Hunt. His duty was done. Forever. He had given his final gift, and now he would sleep forever.

...though maybe, just maybe, he regretted not being there to fight alongside Young Bull at the end.


End file.
